Psychic (type)
The Psychic type (Japanese: エスパータイプ Esper type) is one of the eighteen types. Notable Trainers who specialize in Psychic-type Pokémon are Sabrina of Saffron City, Will of the Indigo Plateau Elite Four, Tate and Liza of Mossdeep City, Lucian of the Sinnoh Elite Four, Caitlin of the and the Unova Elite Four, Olympia of Anistar City, and Faba of the Aether Foundation. Prior to changes in Generation IV, all damaging Psychic-type moves were special, but they may now also be physical depending on the attack. Statistical averages Overall Fully evolved Battle properties Generation I Generation II onwards Characteristics Defense The defensive capabilities of Psychic-types are generally poor. The only types resisted by them are and themselves, while carrying weaknesses to as well as the extremely common and . Psychic-type Pokémon often fall to a single strong move, such as , due to the high Attack stat of many Dark-type Pokémon versus the typically low and of Psychic-types. In addition, the low Defense many Psychics have frequently makes their Fighting resistance ineffective. Prior to Generation VI, /Psychic types were exempt from these weaknesses due to their typing, but since Dark and Ghost are no longer resisted by Steel, this is no longer the case. Most Psychic types have a high stat, as well as outliers with high Defense and HP stats, such as and . Psychic-type moves tend to have supporting effects, such as , , , and , which benefit both themselves and their teammates, giving them greater utility and survivability. Offense Psychic-type Pokémon and moves have been very popular since Generation I due to their typically high and being resisted by only two types, including themselves. They are super-effective against Fighting and types, the latter of which is otherwise strong defensively and the former of which tend to have low . The biggest drawback of Psychic-type moves is that they do not affect Pokémon, although this weakness can be removed with . However, this is not always necessary as many Psychic-type Pokémon can learn moves super-effective against Dark types, such as strong Fighting type moves like , and , a powerful Fairy-type move. Psychics also have access to a wide range of special moves from nearly every type, which can make their and weaknesses ineffective. When is in the effect, the power of Psychic-type moves are increased by 50% if the user is on the ground. Contest properties When used in Contests, Psychic-type moves are typically moves, but can also be of the other four Contest types, excluding . Pokémon As of Generation VII, there are 85 Psychic-type Pokémon or 10.6% of all Pokémon (counting those that are Psychic-type in at least one of their forms, including Alola Forms), making it the 5th most common type. Pure Psychic-type Pokémon |} Half Psychic-type Pokémon Primary Psychic-type Pokémon |} Pokéstar Studios opponents |} Secondary Psychic-type Pokémon |} Pokéstar Studios opponents |} Moves Abilities Interacting with the Psychic type A Pokémon with , , , , or will become a Psychic-type Pokémon if (respectively) it is hit with a Psychic-type move, uses a Psychic-type move, is sent out against a Psychic-type opponent, is holding a , or is holding a or . A with will also change from a Fire-type into a dual Fire/Psychic-type form upon losing more than 50% of its HP. Exclusive Abilities Only Psychic-type Pokémon can have these Abilities. This does not include signature Abilities. Balance issues Psychic-type Pokémon were at the center of a balance issue in the Generation I games. Sugimori, Ken "Psychic Pokémon seemed to dominate in the previous Pokémon game, so we needed to come up with new Pokémon and types to make Gold and Silver more balanced." Nintendo Power 134 (July 2000) p. 79 (retrieved August 16, 2010) The issue arose from the lack of an effective countermeasure against Psychic types caused by the absence of any powerful moves (at the time the only weakness of Psychic types). Strengthening the gap was the fact that to know was also part , creating a vulnerability to Psychic moves, and that in the first-generation games, Ghost-type moves were not only ineffective against Psychic Pokémon, but the only Ghost Pokémon at the time were part-Poison, also creating a vulnerability, not to mention the fact that the that would be affected by type matchups at the time was exceedingly weak. Also, Poison-type Pokémon were fairly common in Generation I, and the only type to resist Psychic-type moves was the Psychic type itself, meaning a weakness to the type was common in itself. The issue was rectified in later generations with the addition of and types, an added weakness to moves, and more powerful Bug- and Ghost-type moves. Trivia * Generation III introduced the most Psychic-type Pokémon of any generation, with 20, and Generation VI introduced the fewest Psychic-type Pokémon, with six. * Generation I introduced the most Psychic-type moves of any generation, with 15, and Generation VI introduced the fewest Psychic-type moves with only . * Psychic is the most common type for Legendary Pokémon, with at least two Psychic-type Legendary Pokémon introduced in each generation (except Generation VI, which has only introduced one) for a total of 19 (out of 71). * Psychic is the only type that shares its name with and . * There has been one Elite Four member or Gym Leader specializing in Psychic-type Pokémon in every generation. * The Psychic type could be considered a special counterpart to the type: ** The Psychic type's highest average stat is , while the Fighting type's is . ** The Psychic type is the only former special type to not have any of its old moves changed into physical moves, while the Fighting type is the only former physical type to not have any of its old moves changed into special moves. ** and , moves countering physical and special attacks are, respectively, Fighting- and Psychic-type moves. ** and , moves raising physical and special stats are, respectively, Fighting- and Psychic-type moves. * A Pokémon cannot have a double resistance to Psychic without being a Psychic type itself. ** However, a Psychic-type Pokémon also cannot have a double resistance to more than one type. * Two of the types that are super-effective against Psychic share a weakness with it. Dark types are also weak to Bug, and Ghost types are weak to Dark and Ghost. ** Also, both Dark and Ghost types are immune to a type Psychic resists. * , an Ability introduced in Generation V, is affected by the weaknesses of the Psychic type. In other languages |bordercolor= |ja=エスパー Esper |bg=Психомощни Psikhomoshtni |zh_yue=超能力 |zh_cmn=超能力 |cs=Psychický |da=Synsk Psykisk |nl=Psychisch Paranormaal |fi=Meedio Psyykkinen Psyyke |fr_ca=Psychique |fr_eu=Psy |de=Psycho |el=Μέντιουμ Méntioum |hu=Pszichikus |he=על חושי Al Hushi |id=Mental |it=Psico |ko=에스퍼 Esper |no=Psykisk Telepatisk Synsk |pl=Psychiczny |pt_br=Psíquico Paranormal |pt_eu=Psíquico |ro=Psihic |ru=Психо Psikho Экстрасенс Ekstrasens |es=Psíquico |sv=Psykisk Ockult Övernaturlig |th=พลังจิต Phlạngchit เอสเปอร์ Esper |vi=Siêu năng }} References